The flowers are wonderful now.  We are bit over-buttercupped but it is not a problem for us.

The boys are looking gorgeous.  All shiny.  Winter coats almost gone.

As Lambie was so distressed by the flies last week, I bought him a horse fly-collar – AB7 Industries Insect Repellent Collar for Horses by Lincoln. I think I got two off Amazon (one for Hetja).  You cut it to size and it comes with fasteners that have a variety of reviews as to whether they stay on or not.  Anywho, the other day, we grabbed Lambie, fitted the collar to size and fastened it.

Of course he went into a complete decline, saying he could’t be That Kind of Sheep (ie one with a collar) and burbled on about being a Free Spirit. I had stopped listening to him by then and told him to get on with it, it would help.

Of course I was right and Lambie is much much happier and relaxed now having got used to the smell of citronella and the total lack of flies around him. From the packet – “protects horses against most parasites including flies, midges, mosquitos and horse-flies.” and now possibly sheep.

(this is Lambie’s happy face, so you know)

While we had Lambie in the metaphorical head-lock, I also replaced his copper magnetic bracelet as he had managed to lose the last one. We have matching bracelets now as I had one made for me too.  Friends forever!

Beautiful smiley faces.

Relaxing in the sun and snoozing.

Edna was happy shovelling food in as fast as she can. What a difference grass makes.

As I wandered about, I was of course followed.

♬♫ “There’s a monster coming over the hill….

(…. and his friend!)” ♬♫

So all is good.

Well, here we are, this afternoon with me striding purposefully to load Klængur into the horse-van.  My theory being if you look like you mean it, possibly the horse will believe you!

I came fully prepared with my now-trusty ex-TurmerAid bucket (they are so useful, even empty) full of yummy and very visual Mare & Youngstock hardfeed.

One hoof on, ears pricked forwards.

Two hooves on and a bit of “look at the bucket, not around the bucket, you are feeling hungry” hypnotism going on!

And Klængur walked in without much hesitation, was tied up, barrier across and next in was Kappi.  Both were given their reward of a few dibs at the bucket.

And bingo!  Two lovely ginger ninjas ready to go on their expedition.

Here we are at our destination, waiting for the others.  We tacked up and went round the village on a lovely hack.  There are no photos as Klængur is not that type of horse (ie one where you can let go of the reins).  This was unknown territory for him and he and Kappi danced around or leg-locked for every yellow flower, blade of suspicious grass, road-marking, gate, house, ladder, the list is endless.  I think the only thing they didn’t spook at was the Minions in a far-away field who were thrilled to see them!

Home safe now.  Phew! I wanted to find out if Klængur and I could do this – and we did!

Daisy and I (with Kappi and Klængur) are going on a socially-distanced ride tomorrow with some friends on their Icelandic horses.

With only three wheels on my wagon, my horse-van is at the menders so the horses and us are blagging a lift off our kind neighbour to our destination.

Klængur’s not brilliant about loading and we haven’t been anywhere for ages. I needed to know if he still remembered what to do.

Armed with my trusty box of inspirational Mare and Youngstock hard-feed (all we have at the moment) and a carrot (visual aid), we walked and rattled our way down to my neighbour’s.

Both horses knew I had food.  I made sure of that.

My neighbour’s horse-van is slightly different to mine – the layout is the same, though.

I let Klængur have a good look and then we walked in with my yellow bucket of food.  Both were good boys and I loaded Klængur a few times until I felt confident that tomorrow would not be a problem.  Kappi of course loaded like the pro he is.  The carrot and mix were duly dished out.

And then we wended our way home again.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow.  We haven’t been anywhere for ages.

I have told Klængur he must be a good boy and not let me down.

Now to iron my brave pants.

Haakon (and Iacs) would like to go out but it has become increasingly obvious that the hard roads and tracks are not helping their feet.  Both boys are unshod and suffering.  Haakon’s hooves, post abscesses, are not brilliant so I invested in four Cavallo hoofboots (and some Formula4feet, which is very good for strengthening hooves that have had an ill time).

We borrowed a friend’s pair of Cavallo hoofboots to try previously on Iacs and I could immediately see that this might be a solution rather than shoeing.  I then bought one off Fleabay (they are like hen’s teeth) and another new to make up a pair.  Haakon went beautifully with them on his fronts. We flew along but when we got home, I could immediately see he had taken the toes off his hinds in just one ride so promptly bought another pair from The Hoof Boutique (somewhere in Englandshire). A great shop and I now have four hoofboots (plus the pair we borrowed – Iacs wore them today).

We told the old men that this was just a short ride that would be taken quietly and sensibly.  I was also nervous about how Haakon would react to wearing four hoofboots.  He has never done this before.  I don’t know why I bothered.  He happily bogged off!

Reins are for wimps!

The old men sniggered and raced along sounding like they were the Wellie Boot Brigade!  Fan-bloody-tastic.  Happy hooves, happy horses and happy hoomans (if slightly shocked at the speed these two old men can go considering they were in retirement).

It was lovely seeing the horses so happy. They felt young again in their hoofboots.  I’ve got my horse back.   You have no idea how wonderful this is.

Oh yes, some cottongrass in the wind – turn the sound up for the birds.

And not-so-little Missy talking to Floss – no sound as we sound awful when we talk!

Sorry for the ramble.

I didn’t have a good night last night.  No sleep. I felt like electric ants were crawling all over me.  So I had an easy day today making everyone else do my chores, because that is what daughters are for!

Anyway, this handsome prince was waiting for me at the front door. Daisy has made her boys a day-paddock of grass that needs eating around the outside of the house.

To clear my head, I went for a walk along the road.  The wild flowers are fabulous, as usual but the bog cotton or cottongrass is amazing this year.

I have never seen it this good.

In Shetland, bog cotton is known as “Lucky Minnie’s Oo”.  Apparently “Lucky Minnie” is Scottish for grandmother. “Oo” is Shetland dialect for wool.  The perfect name then.

And I have just found this out, it was used for dressing wounds in the First World War (1914 – 1918).

Brilliant to see this time of year and possibly the definition of a swathe.

My head is cleared and I am feeling a bit better now. I hope it was just one of those nights and I am back to default settings.

Those electric ants are not welcome.